Democrats Skip Convention as Trump Rallies Dallas
Democrats Skip Convention as Trump Rallies Dallas
The News
Democrats say they were right to skip a midterm convention, after Republicans spent two days in Dallas staging one built around President Trump.
USA Today reports that cash-strapped Democrats chose not to spend the time or the money on a gathering of their own, and that party figures believe the decision has held up.
At the Republican event, Trump told voters to "pretend that I'm on the ballot," according to the Japan Times — a pitch that some loyalists in the hall questioned as a midterm strategy.
Timeline
Political Wire, citing the New York Times, describes the Dallas gathering as Trump's pet project, built on the theory that he can turn out low-propensity voters who go to the polls only for him.
Republicans hold their two-day midterm convention in Dallas. Japan Times reports Trump urging voters to "pretend that I'm on the ballot," while some loyalists question the Trump-centric approach.
USA Today reports that Democrats, short on cash, opted against a convention of their own and say they made the right decision.
MSNBC publishes an analysis of the convention floor, reporting that a prominent Jan. 6 participant roamed the arena halls while Trump's supporters filled the crowd.
Reactions
Democrats quoted by USA Today defend the no-convention call as a matter of money and priorities: the party did not have the cash to spend on a two-day production in a midterm year.
Inside the Dallas arena, the Japan Times reports, not every Republican was sold. Some loyalists questioned whether a midterm campaign centered on a president who is not on the ballot is the right way to win House and Senate races.
Political Wire, quoting the New York Times, frames the split this way: the convention was the president's own idea, premised on his hold over low-propensity voters, with the counterargument being what his ratings look like beyond that base.
MSNBC's account of the floor was harsher, casting the event as a portrait of what Trump has made of the party and noting a prominent Jan. 6 participant moving through the halls.
What's Next
The test is the midterm vote itself: whether Trump's "pretend that I'm on the ballot" appeal moves the low-propensity voters the Dallas event was designed to reach.
Democrats, meanwhile, will be judged on whether the money they did not spend on a convention shows up somewhere that matters more — and whether skipping the stage costs them attention in the closing stretch.
More
Midterm conventions are not a fixture of American politics the way presidential nominating conventions are. That is part of the Democratic argument: there is no requirement to hold one, and in a year when the party is short of cash, the spending is hard to justify.
For Republicans, the two-day Dallas production served a different purpose — a televised show aimed squarely at the voters who turn out for Trump and often for no one else.
Poll
Was skipping a midterm convention the right call for Democrats?
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